I’m excited to share with you the recent posting of a video interview, recorded back in May, but released on July 22, 2014. This was during Canadian Children’s Book Week and the location was the beautiful H.T. Coutts Library, University of Alberta. It was a great thrill to be asked by the talented team at the Coutts Library. My apologies for the tardy posting. I was away for a bit on holidays and then it was the back-to-school blitz.

It’s official. The Bank Street College Centre for Children’s Literature has released its “Best Books” list for 2014 and Phenomenal Female Entrepreneurs (published Sept. 2013) is on the list! I know I mentioned this in an earlier post, but now there is a link to the pdf for all the age categories. Click “Nine to Twelve” and scroll through to page 14 to find my book. I encourage you to poke around and explore the lists for the various age ranges. It is indeed a great honour to have Phenomenal Female Entrepreneurs on this list. Thank you to the reviewers and all the committee members.

Speaking of feeling honoured and grateful, I’m still reeling from the whirlwind Canadian Children’s Book Week tour, though it wrapped up a month ago. I loved the opportunity to be a part of the national celebrations and to meet children in a sampling of schools throughout Alberta.

One of the highlights of my trip to Alberta was meeting Nicole Robertson in person. I featured Nicole as one of ten female entrepreneurs in my book Phenomenal Female Entrepreneurs. Although I’d interviewed her over the phone, I hadn’t had the opportunity to meet her face to face. As owner of Muskwa Productions, Nicole sends good news stories about Aboriginal people to mainstream media outlets. She’s an optimist through and through and is very much in touch with Indigenous issues. She’s also highly skilled at photography, videography, presenting, and consulting. Like all the entrepreneurs in my book, Nicole is overbrimming with passion for her work. She’s a lovely, warm person and it was such a pleasure to chat with her. You can read more about Nicole in this past post here — and also in my book, of course!

Me with Nicole Roberson (profiled in Phenomenal Female Entrepreneurs) at the Delta hotel in Calgary

I just found out that Phenomenal Female Entrepreneurs has earned a spot on the Bank Street Books “Best Children’s Books of the Year, 2014” list. I’m so pleased! The Bank Street College of Education, based in New York, New York, has a Children’s Book Committee, which was founded in 1909. This committee “fostered a growing awareness of the emotional needs of children, and of how books might affect children’s feelings of themselves and the world around them.” They began by publishing a pamphlet, but as time went by, they developed lists, reviews, a magazine, and now a booklet. The 2014 list is not yet available on the Web, but I’ll be sure to provide a link as soon as it is. In the meantime, you can read more about the work of Bank Street Books at these links:

Other good news: shoots are finally started to sprout in my garden and one clump of snowdrops is in full bloom. After a long, cold winter, it looks like spring is finally making a sunny appearance. Happy spring!

You can find "trade" books by Jill Bryant at your favourite local bookstore.
Just ask the bookseller to order them if they aren't on the shelf.
Alternatively, shop online at Chapters Indigo.ca or Amazon.ca.